It's summer time.... lakes are open, streams are open and the bay's full of sea weed with crazy low tides, just a guess ? At least that's why I'm not hitting the salt right now, still fishing for SRC's just not in the salt.
Day time extremely low tides in May and June can make it difficult due to strong tidal currents to find locations where sea-run cutthroat might be at.
Several months ago I decided to stop writing saltwater fishing reports. I have been writing them for over 20 years and have simply gotten tired of doing them.
I was out fishing for sea-run cutthroat the end of last week and water temperatures were approximately 58 degrees F. Water temperatures are now probably approaching or above 62 degrees F. which can over stress hooked fish. It is probably or soon will be time to stop fishing for sea-run cutthroat when those water temperatures are reached.
Roger, you’re one of the “Old Guard” and your reports are a foundation of a number of issues. I always learned how, what, when and a general idea of where to fish for and catch SRC. And when I wasn’t finding fish, your reports confirmed it wasn’t the fault of the fish.
You are also a standard bearer in how to preserve and protect this incredible fish. I understand being tired of the repetition of your experiences, I imagine it gets pretty mundane.
I now live 2,420 miles from my favorite SRC beach and my SCR fishing buddy is dead. I miss that fishery a lot. I guess what I’m saying is thank you for your wonderful reports, They were great stuff.
I had some salty adventures last Saturday. Got to hit the Salish Sea with @rotato and @Irafly. Tides were challenging and finding willing players harder than usual, possibly due to the Massive amounts of baitfish, at times as far as the eye could see in every direction. We managed to troll up supper early in the day with rotato's rabbit strip creation:
Early morning showers gave way to sun and rainbows:
No gold at the end, just more baitfish.
We pulled up this healthy cutthroat on a tubular olive decieverish pattern , the biggest I think I've ever seen. 18-20"?
I wish I got as excited about anything as Ira gets about fishing. The stoke is high in this one. Couple hero shots:
These guys wore me out. Had to stop and nap on the way home. Good times.
No gold at the end, just more baitfish.
We pulled up this healthy cutthroat on a tubular olive decieverish pattern , the biggest I think I've ever seen. 18-20"? View attachment 171857
I hit a pair of MA11 beaches today around lunchtime. It was a little too bright out for my liking and the tide was very low but with 2 kids and a full time job you fish when you can! Nothing doing at the first beach. No sign of fish or bait and the water was really murky- no grabs. This beach always does better at high tide so I gave it an hour and moved to the second beach. I’ve done well at this spot at lower tides and the water was really clear so I was optimistic about my chances. Not much bait about but there were fish hitting the surface from time to time. Got my first grab 10 minutes in and as the current started picking up they came pretty consistently. Saw a couple mid-sized SRC following my fly and lost a third. Caught lots of 6-10” coho and a couple of bigger flatfish. Nice day on the water.
I thought I might post a few images from my first two trips of the spring/summer pursuing Northern California/Southern Oregon sea run cutthroat. Our SRC's are not very accessible once they hit the salt. We usually intercept them in estuaries as they move out of the feeder streams and rivers. Some likely stay in the estuaries while others make their way to the ocean for a few months. Our fishing picks up in August, September and early October as fish likely move back in to the estuaries from the salt. There are usually fish available throughout the summer - I suspect most of those are residing in the estuaries and lagoons.
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